Sing by Vivi Greene

Author:Vivi Greene
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-03-22T04:00:00+00:00

17

58 Days Until Tour

July 16th

THE NEXT MORNING, I’m brewing a pot of Terry’s imported coffee when there’s a knock at the door. I shuffle down the hall in my jersey bathrobe and peer through the stained-glass window. Ray stands on the deck, a small brown bag clutched in his giant fist.

“Thanks,” I say as he passes me the bag. I peer inside at the gooey pile of doughnuts. “Want to stay for one? Promise I won’t tell.”

Ray smiles and shakes his head. “K2 gets lonely.” He shrugs back toward the car in the road. “We’re listening to an audiobook. He’s on a Dickens kick.” He rolls his eyes and hops back down the steps, lumbering down the driveway.

I texted him early this morning out of desperation. I wasn’t sure that breakfast treats and Terry’s coffee were going to be enough to turn things around with Tess, but I knew I had to do something. I tossed and turned all night, replaying in my head all of what happened. When I decided to tell Sammy and Tess the truth about Noel, I knew they would be disappointed. But with Tess, it feels like something more. And she’s not one to “talk things out.” There’s only guessing what’s wrong, and doing whatever can be done to fix it.

Usually, this involves doughnuts. Every morning at camp there were doughnuts. Tess knew where they were kept in the kitchen and how to sneak in. Whenever one of us was down, or she was feeling city-sick, Tess would round us up for a late-night rendezvous, and we’d tiptoe down the woodchip-covered trail and stuff our faces in the dark with sticky, glazed goodness.

I stand at the stove, boiling water for tea—I’ve never been a coffee drinker, I’m jittery enough on my own—and I remember what Tess said about this summer. She thought it should be for us now what camp was for us then. Suddenly, I understand why that could never happen. There were no boys at camp.

It’s hard to imagine now, after years of serial dating and ping-ponging from one long-term relationship to the next, but when I was younger, boys were never on my radar. Or, I should say, I wasn’t on theirs. I’d get jealous, sometimes, about the way guys always waited for Sammy outside after junior high, showing off and acting like morons, fighting for her attention. In high school, it was clear that Sammy was on the fast track to popularity—captain of the dance team, prom queen, the works—while I was still going fishing with Gramps and goofing around on my guitar. But by that point, Sammy was too loyal to set me free. Sometimes I think she’s the only reason I got out of that place alive. Sammy, and writing music.

Tess was different. I could sense that she needed us, from the very first day of camp, even if she didn’t immediately agree. She mentioned her parents’ recent divorce only to say that getting rid of her for the summer was the first thing they’d agreed on in years.

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